I received a UPS package last Friday from Harper Collins and couldn't wait to see what goodies it contained. I tore open the package and there were two copies of my book in Polish. And a totally different cover. A cover, in fact, that I LOVED. Very reminiscent of the 1960's movie posters I just viewed on a website last week.
My family and I went through the book with a fine-toothed comb and had real fun doing it. The names!!!! My son became Caymanowi. Spielberg became Stevena. And for every idiom used there was a footnote....didn't know I used that many idioms.
Now I'm waiting for the versions in Turkish and the unifying language of Indonesia. Weird story about that--Harper Collins Jakarta had written to the New York office requesting Chore Whore be converted into their language the day AFTER the huge tsunami. I kept thinking about that...how devastation happens all around and life goes on without even taking a breather to inhale what has just happened. Same thing happened on 9/11....everywhere was closing down. Folks weren't out on the streets. But producers had their plans and I was called to work to carry out those plans. The producer and his wife were walking about and carrying on as if nothing had happened. In fact, the producer had just got news that his mother was in a Queens hospital and had no word as to whether it was WTC- related or not. he honestly didn't look too concerned. And he was one of the NICEST and most loving people I worked for. I don't get the disconnection from tragedy and quite honestly, hope I never do.
Swim team has ended and so has structured Monday through Thursday workouts and activities. Since Cayman has decided that he's a "night person," he thinks he must (and deeply wants to) stay up every night until at least midnight.
"I come alive at night."
I sleep like a log at night....until the light is turned on and he wakes me up to tell me something that I have deemed a non-emergency.
We have started fencing on Saturday mornings. No, not fencing is the street sense of the word as in receiving stolen goods. The foil or sabre, the cool mask and coat that goes between your legs and zips up the side. The chest plate so you don't end up with a sword through your heart type of fencing. I could definitely see continuing that throughout the year. But that's for one hour, one day a week. With Cayman's friends spread all over the place and none really in our hood, it has made summer entertainment difficult. We do go to the movies twice a week but again, that's for an hour, hour and a half max.
I tried to introduce him to the way grown-ups spend their off time (or at least how this grown-up would like to spend some of her off time). We went to Borders, sat in the aisles reading, got a Starbucks coffee and continued to read. I might as well have thrown him into a pit of despair. BORING.
Visalia is surrounded by land for miles around but the idea of surfing sounded cool. And there is a sports park with some type of indoor surfing park going up in Lindsay, but it's not up yet.
Friends are away on summer vacation....what's a curious 12 yr. old boy to do? He hates summer camps and there aren't any groovy ones in this area. The thought of trouncing up and down a field playing football in 101 degree heat isn't thrilling him either. The other day he actually confessed that he's looking forward to school starting.
Oh my God!
....or a job overseas where he can explore new cities and see what new thrilling things they have to offer is more of his style. Then we hit on something.......something we forgot about for some reason.
We're going to build a go-kart. 1950's style. From scratch. He and I doing it together. I've watched enough HGTV to be able to handle a screwdriver....I think. We have the wood and nails but we need to find some tires. That's what the internet is for.....freecycle.com, my new fave website. We'll deal with where he's going to drive the thing after it's built.
Maybe summer isn't so boring after all.
